EK Wagon today

This is the state of the EK today. It was improperly stored (by me) for a couple of years and since I live close to the sea that means trouble. However, it shouldn't be too much effort to bring her back to a nice condition.

EK in garage where she's been for last 10 years. Rego is live and on hold with the original number plate.

I'm not sure what the bonnet ornament is from, I don't think it's EK original.

The surface is a bit rusty from several years of partial cover in a salty environment.

Head lining is in good nic.

Upholstery is pretty good except for the driver's seat.

Floor is rusted out on passenger's side.

I don't know what the valve radio came from originally but it used to work well.

These are the original miles.

Mechanically this car always ran sweetly. Hopefully with a bit of a service she will start up and run sweet again. Note the optional oil filter, window washer and brake booster.

EK Wagon

This EK wagon was advertised for tender from a farm at Millar's Flat. I had just sold my BSA B-44. I won the tender for $1200 and hitch hiked up there to collect. I bought it from the farmer's widow who told me how meticulously he maintained it. 80k on the clock and ran smooth and tight. I had this and the HQ and used them both pretty much daily.

I stopped driving the EK and kept it under a cover in my driveway. It wasn't properly stored and the paint suffered for it. Also the from floor rotted out under the ribber mat. Eventually it was properly garaged and I would start it up and go for a run a couple of times a year. When it refused to start about 8 years ago I just left it there and concentrated on other things.

The time has come to have a go at getting her running again. I don't intend a restoration, just some repairs and possibly a respray. In the time since I bought her old Holdens have become fewer on the road so it would be all the more enjoyable to be able to go for a slow comfortable cruise again in my EK wagon.

FC Sedan

This sedan was in pretty good nick and I intended to get it running but ended up swapping it for panelbeating on my recently returned HQ panelvan.

FC ute

Tony's HK wagon, Gibby's black HT and my FC

Midway through the front end and donkey transplant.

It ended up with a stock 202/3 speed on the floor, HR front end with HQ discs and a rear end from an HG (I think). I ran the motor with no fan and only carried a spare wheel for the front half of the vehicle. I had a pretty good trip up the west coast in her like that.

This FC ute was one of the coolest of my Holdens. I got it with a red oxide primer paintjob, wide rims and twin pipes fitted to the 132 grey motor. It was as gutless as you'd imagine but it sounded and looked great.

I set to work on it as a project one winter and with the help of my friend John installed an HR front end with HQ discs, a stock 202 and 3 speed. I think the rear end was from an HT, any way the front and rear studs didn't match so I only carried a spare wheel for the front. The engine was a tight fit against the radiator so I ran it without a fan and had no problems. Power was ample.

After a couple of years I was missing my HQ panelvan so much I swapped it back for the FC ute.

*Update* after a bout of Utelust recently I went to see the fella I swapped it back to. I was hoping he still had it and felt like selling it to me for a song. He told me he had sold it on to some young fellas who promptly wrapped it round a lamp post. He thought about buying it back in that state and went looking for it but was told it went to the crusher. Ah well... there's a lesson in that somewhere but don't ask me what it is.

HQ panelvan 2

My second HQ panelvan was originally a NZ Police telecom van. It was 202 with manual trans.

This vehicle was great! Finally I had the panelvan I wanted for traveling and sleeping in. I did a few circuits of the South Island and many runs into Central Otago.

I met this guy with some old Holdens; FX and FJ sedans  and an FC ute. I took a fancy to the ute and did a swap for the panel van. The FC ute story is the next post. After a couple of years I began to miss the traveling qualities of the panelvan and sought to swap it back. We did and I had a happy second ownership of my HQ. It came back to me lowered at the front, shod with mags and fat tyres and a rear sway bar installed. For the next few years I made good use of the road friendly campervan. Eventually, in one of those "why did I do that?" moments I sold it cheap for cash.

HQ ute

Generic HQ ute

Not a Holden.

I returned to NZ in the mid eighties and bought an HQ ute. It was white with a pinstripe, had hotwire mags and the whole front exterior was changed at some point to HJ - Nosecone, guards, bonnet. It also had a canopy and so made a useful panelvan substitute for road trips.

I have no photo of this vehicle.

It was put up for sale when I bought a 38 V8 Ford pick up.

HG wagon 2

Living in Melbourne in the early eighties I bought another HG wagon. Not a great photo but a good solid car.

HQ panelvan 1

I was desperate for something and I had been for years. I wasn't sex, it was a Holden panel van, which I thought of as pretty much the same thing.

I bought this HQ with it's flashy stripes, fat wheels and smokey 253 from a dealer, signing away my soul and peace of mind to a finance company.

The engine fumed up the vehicle's interior terribly. I couldn't drive anywhere without the window open. I did a couple of trips and as in the photo parked backwards at the drive in movie with my mates. But it never was the fuck truck that my imagination promised. When I finally sold it I was relieved. The finance company is probably still looking for me.

HG wagon 1

I moved to Australia in 1980. I had a job at the Adelaide Advertiser that finished at 3am so I needed a car as soon as I could afford it. This HG wagon cast $500 and was nicely worn. It had a 253 V8 and auto. Shoulda kept it.

HD X2 sedan

For some reason I still can't fathom (this happens to me a lot) I swapped the spunky stand out FJ for this uninspiring HD. It was an X2 Premier, which meant it had a pair of stromberg carbies but it was auto and gutless as hell. Perhaps after the rattling, partly finished FJ I was attracted to the luxuriant mint interior of the X2. Gordon, who I swapped cars with, painted the FJ a dark maroon. Oh man.

FJ sedan

I saw this car at a garage and asked the mechanic it belonged to if he wanted to sell.

I got it for $1400. It had a shaved head, lumpy cam and extractors. The mechanic adapted the Corona 4 speed to fit. It was quite fast off the line.

I was 17 and cruised Dunedin streets extensively. In my memory the soundtrack for this time was Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the edge of town and The Cars.

Some friends Holdens

One friend I hung around with lost his license and for a while I was his wheelman. He had a blue FB sedan with twin pipes, jacked up 6" in the rear. It looked quite spectacular but of course was sluggish and didn't so much corner as plough.

Another friend's Holden of note was "The Black Ace". It was a rough looking mat black FC with white wheels. It ran a MKII Zephyr motor that was welded to the gear box. This car looked like trouble and ran on syphoned petrol.

An HR panelvan owned by a mate was shiny black and had a MK I Cortina wagon rear door. This was involved in lots of cruising of Dunedin streets when I was 17. Having a mate with a panelvan was better than having one yourself.

HR wagon

My first car was an HR wagon. It was dark red. Very plain and sensible, it went ok except for an occaisional clunk from the rear suspension.. My father bought it for me so that he could get access to his car again.

First Holdens

I've had this obsession since an early age. Some of my earliest memories were of the company car that my father drove, an FB wagon like the one above.

His next car was a pale yellow HT sedan. Same colour as the one above.

Then came his HQ. It was a burnt umber coloured sedan sort of like the one pictured above. This was in the mid seventies. I started driving around the town I lived when I was 14 and by the time I was 16 my father had a hard time getting his car off me.